YOUR ONE LAST LINE |✔️|

f o u r t h

It hadn't taken much for North to convince his best friend Sara to hit the library after class Friday afternoon. Cheerful as always, the red-head was oblivious to her friend's internal turmoil, throwing the library doors open with excitement.

"I can't believe you're voluntarily staying at school after hours," she laughed, dumping her bag at the nearest two-seater table.

Shoving his own backpack under his seat, North let out a nervous chuckle. Rubbing the side of his neck, he ignored Sara soft blue eyes in favor of scoping out the library's encyclopedia section. He'd never actually gone there before, choosing it purely because he knew nobody ever issued the things out. It would be the perfect message delivery space since he didn't want to run the risk of walking down to the basement one day and finding the lockers gone.

"I'm really far behind," He said, and it wasn't a complete lie. "Figured you'd be a better motivator than sitting alone in my room. Surrounded by distractions."

Sara beamed at the endorsement, preening to herself as she placed her laptop onto the table. "I am honored to serve."

"I'm just going to try and find a book for my history class," North took a slight step back, gesturing over his shoulder at the shelves around them, "I'll be back in a minute."

"I'll be here, drowning in Gatsby." She replied, groaning as she opened a new Word document.

Disappearing into the closest row of shelves, North waited long enough for Sara to fully immerse herself in typing before ducking out and jogging over to the west side of the building. There the shelves were stacked full, no more than a book or two missing from the sectioned spaces. Looking relatively untouched stood the Morrison and Fester Encyclopaedia collection, each edition as long as his arm and twice as wide.

North winced at the idea of picking one of the monsters up. He started at the lowest shelf first, hoping his pen pal had taken it easy on him. It was when he reached the shelves at waist height that he caught a break. The edge of pink cat ear poked up along the spine of Volume XII and North eagerly pulled it free. He felt his entire face drop as he read the four letters that stared back at him in all caps.

COLD.

Confused, North scrunched up the message in a loose fist and placed it in his pocket. Readjusting his glasses he trailed his eyes over the remaining books. Close to the silver bookend dividing the Encyclopaedia's from the Dictionaries was another cat ear. It took significantly more strength to free this message, wedged between tightly packed pages.

COLDER.

North found the next directly above his head, nestled inside Darcy and Spades Encyclopedia of German History, Volume L. This one came with no resistance.

BURRRRR. GETTING A BIT CHILLY HERE.

Rolling his eyes North took the highlighter from his jacket pocket, marking on the post-it note the volume number he found it in. He walked to the opposite end of the row, closer to the Self-Help books no one admitted to reading. An orange post-it note peaked from under an encyclopedia, almost blending into the burnt wood of the shelf.

WARMER.

North kneeled onto the floor, brushing a finger along the tops of the books lost to the shadows and jolted when his fingers came across a thin piece of paper. Ripping it free North let out a sigh of relief at the giant lettering, wrestling loose the encyclopedia that accompanied it.

RED HOT.

Volume VI of Zayfer and Reese Encyclopaedia of Arts and Sciences propped itself neatly open to page 167. Between its yellowing pages was a crudely folded piece of green paper, manipulated into the shape of a boat. North bit back a grin, palms growing warm with excitement as he put away the post-it note and worked to unravel his awaiting message. The creased edges broke away to jagged words and scribble marks in bleeding red ink. It was an eyesore to look at but North bared through, forgiving in his increasing curiosity.

Salutations Captain Clean-Up,

This message comes to you from the boy's bathroom on the third floor. I contemplated writing this in class, but bailed out of fear my friends would catch me. Then I thought of writing it in the library... but there was the chance of YOU walking in on me writing this. Which would be a bummer, since this anonymous messaging is fun. I feel like a spy, or the lame protagonist in a cheesy teen romance movie, writing these. Not that this note sharing is romantic... or is it?

Don't answer that question, I'm speaking in rhetoric.

Plus my eyes are fully locked and loaded on Mr. Doubtful, and I am nothing if not faithful.

Anyway, the bathroom was the safest place I could think of. If I spend too long drafting this crappy message I can just claim food poisoning and be left alone. I swear I'm not actually using the bathroom while I write this, pants are FIRMLY on.

Not really sure where I'm going to leave this note. The encyclopedia section is a pretty broad space. I'll have to leave some clues, make sure you find it and not think I stood you up. Actually, come to think of it, can you stand up someone you've never met?

Thought of the day: a/s/l? Anonymity is fun, but give me something to work with. I'm an open book after all. Maybe you could be too?

With Curiosity,

'Distracted Diary Dude'

P.S. Just call me Duck. The rest is a mouthful.